Backstory

A masked wrestler whom was given a further lease on life by a deal with a death god who thinks he is destined for something amazing in his last incarnation in life. The creature alternately works as "match promoter" in the hopes of getting to see for himself what this character's ultimate fate holds.

Quick Movelist

Command Normals

Special Moves

Skyfall

+

C -> R

+ (Also in Air)

Banishing Flat

+

Spinning Piledriver

When Close, +

<EX> Lv 2 Aura Soul Throw

+

<EX> God Press

+ (Also In Air)

Boost Power : Lightning Drinker

Crouches down for an instant, then pulls up with a giant dark aura around him, similar in look to Azrael from Blazblue's Growler Field. Has some startup autoguard (high), and can entirely dispel fireballs that contact his hitbox. If either of these events happens, then the character gains 2 Death Point, and the move becomes fully cancellable into his other special moves until it ends. If he fully completes the animation of this move but contacts nothing, he still gains 1 Death Point. Can be done in air as a means of floating until the animation ends.

Unique Capability "Death Points"

Character has his own meter called Death Points

Starts matches at 0 meter.

For each point, HP regeneration and damage both increase by 10% (cumulative)

Maximum DP is 5

Points can be used to activate Spirit Summons/Ring Distractions

Gain 1 point for counter-hitting the opponent with any Heavy attack

Gain 1 point for hitting with any Charged Heavy attacks

Points are lost at a rate of 1 every 3 seconds if not used.

Summon Spirits

Zombie Walk (Normal)

1 DP

+

Zombie Walk (Armored)

2 DP

+

Formation A1

1 DP

+ or

Assassin Zombie

2 DP

+

Transformation Additions

In addition to the basic capabilities : Hunter Chains & +1 Air Action, this character gains

Increases the character's base walk and run speeds.

Special moves have their Death Point costs reduced by 1.

Gain 1 Death Point for connecting with any Heavy attack. (Stacks with other gains)

Death Points are lost at half the rate of normal, 1 every 6 seconds if unused.

Supers

Detailed Movelist

Character-Specific Thoughts

In short, this is a character archetype that I have always liked at least to some degree, but feel has been repeatedly cheated of its proper set of capabilities in order to please those who hate to have to think it through. As a result, I tried to do something that both evoked the capabilities of Zangief, but managed to do so in a… different fashion. That gives this character an odd and unique twist. I did not really mean for this character to be the embodiment of Death, but that sort of came along with so many cool attendant ideas that I couldn't help but work with them to this fairly final result.

A lot of the way that the character works is built entirely around the concept of the Death Points as a way to balance shaking up the "genre" of the heavy, slow grappler with tools that often this character type sorely needs. Base attack damage suffers somewhat as it is assumed that the "basic" calculations for this character ALWAYS include 2 Death Points, which is a resource that is intended to not always be available.

For the Movelist, I had these thoughts in mind :

For Skyfall, the basic thought was that Zangief was always sort of lacking in the proper anti-air department, as well as for special moves that he could combo into. Skyfall as introduced by Abel covers a lot of ground for him, and makes jumping at him even more scary when he can juggle into its decent damage. Finally, the skies are truly protected~!

C -> R does several Zangief-y things at once, and was a natural choice for inclusion in this list. First off, it is a very fast rushing grab that is also available while in the air, a realm that Zangief is normally lacking in. Second off, it is, again, VERY FAST, which is not a trait you normally associate with anything Zangief-related. Footspeed in general is something that the character sorely needs, and his Running Bear Grab rarely has the amount of it that it needs to truly be threatening in most games. That trait is so important that it was the very first thing I wanted to bring over for this character. It is still a Capcom-styled grab, which means that it cannot truly combo, but you'll find that there are many, MANY situations in which Zangief now has an answer to poorly thought-out attempts at damage or punishment.

Continuing the theme of mobility, Banishing Flat is a mix of old and new versions, designed in the Light version to be a fast screen crosser and projectile nullifier, and the Heavy version as the more modern combo and tick factory special that your opponent will learn to fear. Heavy version is a bit slower on startup AND recovery, but less negative on block, meaning that intelligent play requires knowing which one is best for your circumstance. Super cancellable too, in case your opponent is too dumb to let live.

And finally, the Spinning Piledriver. Sometimes the classics ARE best, and this is definitely the best at what it does : DAMAGE. Each version is tuned to a somewhat different set of circumstances, with the Light version having more range and being faster and more damaging in exchange for being a more classical Capcom-styled grab, whereas the Heavy version is slightly slower, with shorter range, but is a less damaging SNK-styled grab. Yes, that means you can combo into it. Sucks to be that other guy, huh?

For <EX> moves, I decided to go more for utility to Zangief, giving him ways to juice damage in situations that he doesn't commonly get to see. The focus here is always on making him more well-rounded as a combatant, so with the <EX> Aura Soul Throw the goal was to give Zangief a way to apply damage to situations where he normally would only be able to get a non-grab combo. So from this he does a startup invulnerable upwards hit, and then follows by jumping after the opponent and taking them to the mat. Does decent damage and forces hard knockdown, though the knockdown time is a tad short. Its mostly meant to ensure that Zangief can get that tiny bit closer as the opponent gets up, making him even MORE scary.

And then there's <EX> God Press , which makes God Press a comboable hit-throw that freezes the camera to slam the opponent into the corner. This DOES have the unfortunate downside of leaving an opponent outside the proper corner if you're too far away, but the combination of the soft knockdown with you looming overhead and the potential that you could do other, NASTIER things will leave most enemies quaking in their boots.

Lightning Drinker seems like a gimmick at first, but it has some seriously noteworthy consequences. First off, it means that this character has something to combo into while in the air, which is a serious threat on its own. Midair-hitting Lightning Drinker into C -> R is a special case that will ALWAYS combo if you have the reflexes for it. Second off, it charges your Death Points even if it doesn't connect, meaning that you gain MASSIVELY if your opponent is too stupid to stop throwing predictable fireballs or is just too in awe of your monstrous might to come into your loving arms. It takes a more brave opponent (or at least a smarter one) to realize that this is something that you can never be allowed to attempt, and a smarter one to punish you for even considering this. But the option is ALWAYS there… waiting.

Transformation for this character is where the gimmicks really kick in, seeing as this character's transformation doesn't ADD moves per-se. Instead it makes it where the following moves are more accessible for your gaming pleasure, enhancing this character's ranged game by denying the opponent theirs.

What makes Zombie Walk (Normal) so normal? It creates a somewhat speedy shambling monster that appears from the corner behind the user that walks forwards until it can take a bite out of the opponent. And does! When it hits an opponent it does a decent amount of damage and "holds" them in place for a moment, forcing them to shake out or take more minor damage. If blocked then it still holds the opponent in place, making it a huge nuisance to the opponent. Good news for them, though : The zombies are pretty weak and don't take much damage at all to get rid of (Somewhere around 80-100 HP feels right). Most characters will find benefits to merely chucking plasma of various sorts at it, or actively trying to hit it. Please protect your zombie heroic souls, they do not deserve such punishment.

More important to your game is the Zombie Walk (Armored), which creates slower zombie that actually has something approaching decent defense that shambles towards the opponent. It has actual super armor to make its still kinda low HP (Somewhere around 150-250?) more scary than it otherwise would be. When it gets close to the opponent's position, it sets down its shield for a moment, then rushes forwards in a nasty bashing attack that DOES NOT knock down. The fact that it CAN take a hit and still keep walking is most important. Everyone loves a meatshield, right? Perhaps this can be flavored as calling in The Macho Man for a sneaky takedown?

Formation A1 is here because everyone loves LASERCROWS. Too bad this isn't quite it, though they do swoop in at varying points on the battlefield, generally being a nuisance to the opponent, no matter where on the screen they are. Punch versions have the crows swoop down from the top corners of the screen at about a 60 degree angle till they hit the ground. Light version goes from the Left corner (absolute), Heavy version from the Right corner (absolute). Kick versions, on the other hand, have the crows swoop in curves from the corner of the screen behind the user. Light Kick version goes in a U shape from the upper edges of the screen, and the Heavy Kick version flies up from the bottom of the screen in an inverted-U shape to the other side. Both have kinda low priority, but are fast and kinda small sprites, meaning that its harder to knock them away like you would the Zombies, despite having lower life. Aesthetics-wise, I have been considering the merits of making this be less "Crows" and more of the wrestling classic "Where'd that steel folding chair come from?"

Assassin Zombie is perhaps the most valuable of your shambling horrors. An undead thief will peek its head out of the corner BEHIND the opponent for a brief second, confirming its target then ducking back into "cover". A mere moment later, it will DASH out from that corner and hopefully catch your erstwhile opponent off guard. Does decent damage AND crumple-stuns on a counterhit, meaning that your opponent had better guard their kidneys.

Supers-wise, we have things that are meant to be more for utility than anything that you would normally consider as grappling tools. Just stuff to cover holes in this character's game or cause your opponents no end of frustration. [DM] Astra Rock Buster does much of this, giving the character both a decently damaging combo ender as well as a way to menace opponents with a move that has the range of the Banishing Flat with invulnerable startup. Mash you way to victory? Just don't even try it.

[DM] Thunder Break is an odd one. Based in part on Goro Daimon's Minelayer, here is an attack that causes the user to jump into the air a short distance and slam his fists down onto the ground. His fists count as a High/Overhead hit with some decent damage, and the ground pound actually is a fullscreen low attack that does decent damage AND OTGs. Opponent thought he could take a nap while on the job? Wake up and die, dumbass~! Well-timed wakeup rolls can beat this, assuming they don't wake up into two fists of fury instead. This attack is worse if you're close enough where both parts can hit, since in this range it is effectively unblockable. If nothing else, this is always a great option to tack damage on even when your opponent thinks you're done.

[LIMIT] Final Atomic Buster will have to be worked on, but not because its a boring limit or anything. Oh no. If anything the character will have TOO MANY uses for a comboable, high-damage throw that can be tacked on to most of his potential combos. No no, The problem here is figuring out a sequence of wrestling moves that are more impressive than the ones its reference ALREADY uses.